Watching their six
For “Hawaii Five-0” fans, the first part of May was like waiting for a wonderful treat, yet wondering if that sweetness would soon turn into a fleeting memory.
As fans tuned in last week to watch the two-hour season finale, they wondered if this was the end of “Five-0.”
CBS promised to announce the show’s fate on May 13, five days after the season ended. Fans were beside themselves, holding their breath, wringing their hands and hashtagging “#RenewH50” on every post, picture and collage of love they shared online.
So when news broke a day early — much to the delight of dedicated show devotees — everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Five-0 fans around the world are celebrating today and breathing a lot easier,” commented fan Susan Morrell on the Five-0 Redux’s Facebook page. Most of the comments were full of thanks to CBS, executive producer Peter Lenkov and the cast and crew. Lenkov took to Instagram and Twitter and posted pictures of T-shirts commemorating the show’s upcoming sixth season.
Phew! I can finally wear this… pic.twitter.com/8BVgU7Vk1e
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— Peter M. Lenkov (@PLenkov) May 11, 2015
Even Lenkov appeared relieved by news of the renewal. Naysayers had said for months that Five-0 was a “no-go” for a sixth season. While I thought CBS would have been making a huge mistake by canceling the show, I was a bit nervous myself. In the last few seasons, renewals usually came around the time the current season wrapped its shooting schedule in March.
And since we were still waiting for word as the finale aired, I have to admit even I had some serious doubts.
But what would we have been left with? A lot of unanswered questions and unfinished business. Between McGarrett’s (Alex O’Loughlin) dealing with Catherine’s (Michelle Borth) return; Danno (Scott Caan) learning he was a daddy again and dealing with his son’s illness; Kono (Grace Park) and Adam’s (Ian Anthony Dale) special day cut short; added to Gabriel (Christopher Sean) trying to blackmail Chin (Daniel Dae Kim) at gun point — all of those unresolved storylines would have left us a bit rudderless.
Thankfully, we can enter this fifth hiatus looking forward to at least one more season. Of course, fans would love more, but after this year of hanging on by a thread, I’m curious to think about what will happen next May.
“Hawaii Five-0” really is so much better than some of the other shows that made it though the renewal fire. I’m sure there are many out there who would call me biased, but I watched some of the new dramas CBS aired this year. At least “Five-0” is full of action and their leads have some fire and emotion in them. CBS may now stand for Characters By Stiffness, which no one can say about “Five-0.”
Still, no matter what anyone said in recent weeks, “Hawaii Five-0” is back.
After watching the stories started and left open, season six looks to be an even stronger. I know I’m looking forward to finding out what the future holds for our team. What resolutions will McGarrett come to regarding his mother and her explanation about her relationship with Wo Fat and his father? What will happen with Danno’s children and his new love, Melissa (Lili Simmons)?
What about Kono and Adam’s future? How will Adam deal with the loss of his business and perhaps his wealth? How will Chin deal with his wayward brother-in-law who seems to be picking up exactly where he left off before Chin sent him to prison?
And we can’t forget Grover’s (Chi McBride) desire to charge his former partner with murder, and Jerry’s (Jorge Garcia) quest to receive a Five-0 badge.
With Masi Oka on his way to NBC to guest star as Hiro Nakamura on “Heroes Reborn,” Dr. Max won’t be around for part of season six, either. I’m curious to see how that change plays out. Perhaps they will bring Charlie Fong (Brian Yang) back more often? I definitely vote yes on that.
If nothing else, the entire crew needs to keep on pace and make sure they watch their collective six.
To say “watch your six” means to “watch your ʻōkole, be aware and CYA.” If your body was a clock, your head would be the 12 and your butt is at 6, so when you are headed into danger you have to watch your six.
In a few months, fans will be watching the show’s six, helping “Five-0” keep its ratings up and cheering on the team. And that doesn’t just mean cheering on the lead actors, but all the cast members who don’t always get headline mentions, and all the crew who are always hard at work behind the scenes.
REDUX SIDE NOTE
Don’t miss every Saturday during the hiatus, as the Five-0 Redux will return each weekend with Five-0 news, interviews and more. I usually share lists of best guest stars, best villains and best episodes of the past season.
If you have any bests you’d like to see, leave a comment below and we’ll get things rolling as we wait for September to bring “Five-0” back with new episodes and stories.
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Wendie Burbridge is a published author, playwright and teacher. Reach her via Facebook and follow her on Twitter.
12 responses to “Watching their six”
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I have bought series 1 -4 and will start watching them all this summer . I like the first meeting with Stev & Danny . I hope to see more of Stev & Danno in season 6 .
Hi Wendie. I am very happy and relieved myself. I was very nervous, but we get one more season, so I won’t worry about next May until then. I Still feel a little cheated at not getting more answers to the Doris story, or an ending. I love that Catherine came back, I hope she stays. I think this is Steve’s true love, they have been apart before and came back together. I am also happy to see Danny has a son. We should get a lot of drama and great acting by Scott as he tries to help Charlie get well. I’m sorry to hear that we will be missing Max for at least most of next season, but I am happy for Masi. I do however like Dr. Shaw, so we should see more of her. I still like Danny and Dr. Shaw together, hopefully we get the friends turn into loves at some point. I also want to see Kono and Adam actually exchange vows. We should get some good stories of how Adam copes with losing his business. I think he made the right choice.
Chin’s brother-in-law might be the next big villain. We should get to see how Grover nails his ex partner for murdering his wife. I thought this was a great season. See you in the fall.
Good morning, Wendie! I’m not going to lie and say I knew all along Season 6 was a go. I was quaking in my boots for the last few months, and especially the last week before the renewal was finally announced! I want this show to go on forever – “Geriatric Five-0” – it has a ring to it, don’t you think – but I’m satisfied right now for just another season, for all the same reasons you listed, it would have been a shame to have ended the series with all the questions left unanswered.
As far as lists for the Redux this summer — favorite villains and favorite guest stars are always good. How about favorite stunts? You could do one on favorite Kono outfits – she had quite the wardrobe this season! Maybe favorite bromance moment – there actually were some this year. Or even favorite “Jerry” side stories – there were enough of them, too! 🙂
Thanks for another great season of Redux reviews, Wendie! I continue to enjoy them, and look forward to starting a new season 6 with you in the fall!
For once, I’ve been pretty relaxed about the chances of renewal! Not only did Peter Lenkov tweet “Don’t be nervous,” about renewal (which he’s never done before) but the show does well in it’s Friday time slot. Those predicting cancellation based on the ratings aren’t looking at the unique Friday landscape, which is seeing fewer and fewer of the 18-49 demo watching ANY shows, or at least watching on a TV set where ratings are captured. Five-0 consistently won it’s time slot in Nielsen ratings and it’s chief competitor saw a continual drop in their 18-49 viewers. Given all of that, I was pretty confident about renewal but when I saw a contest in which the prize was a set visit next year, I knew it was a done deal! I think those professionals who got it wrong place too much importance on the 18-49 Holy Grail Demo, something that CBS doesn’t worry about as much as other networks. You’d think they’d realize that by now!
No Season 6 would, indeed, have meant too many open questions and storylines – and, at least, one devastated fan in Germany!
CBS knew better than to ignore all those renewal requests by fans on social media. I hope that CBS will never make us wait that long again for a renewal announcement because it felt like “fan torture” – even for a fan like me who has huge faith in the show and believes it’s simply the best.
A certain “cancellation animal” tried hard to make fans think that CBS would cancel the show, and it managed to make me slightly nervous, too – although I knew that the cast and Peter had signed longer-running contracts with CBS but I have no idea how much those contracts are worth resp. if they couldn’t just be cancelled, anyway.
Luckily, my nervousness disappeared when I found two charity auctions online which were for set visits to our favorite show. I figured that nobody at H50 would donate a set visit for charity if the prize could not be delivered due to the show’s cancellation. Anyone willing to pay up to 15,000 dollars (the highest bid in one of the auctions) would have been more than disappointed if he could see nothing but a deserted set with no actors and no action – even the included lunch with Boss Peter would most likely not have comforted the highest bidder 🙂
Season 5 was simply awesome, which makes me look forward to Season 6 even more. There were so many great episodes and memorable moments – from the spectacular start with drone attacks and an airplane landing on an evacuated street in the middle of Honolulu, on to the epic 100th birthday episode with an outstanding performance by Alex, on to the very enjoyable McDanno episode directed by Daniel, on to the recent Kono-centered episode, on to the exciting finale with Five-0 saving Hawai`i from a nuke explosion and so on. The finale even rivalled any Bond movie – and we definitely got a much better looking Bond, too. O.k., I admit that I might be a little biased as a fan of Alex 🙂
Now that Season 6 is officially confirmed, I’m very happily looking forward to the return of my favorite cast and crew, and to another season full of fun, action, emotions and more – and as your Five-0 Redux readers, we even get twice the fun because we enjoy not only the show but your blogs about it, too 😉
I was nervous about renewal even though I was aware of the raffle and Peter’s “don’t worry” assurances I’ve learned never to take things for granted. But boy am I happy there’s a s6! Maybe, at long last, we’ll finally get answers to some of the unresolved storylines and get answers to new ones! And maybe we can can start a wish list too cause I know I’d love to see Brian back as Charlie and have Sang Min return as well!
You’ve done the “best of” how about the “worst of” episodes, characters, shoes, hair (or any combo thereof!). I think it’d be interesting to know what others thought wasn’t so good!
Here’s to another season of great reviews! Can’t wait for September!!
Great summary, Wendie, and thanks for quoting me…that was a pleasant surprise!
I am glad the show is picked up for another season . Not happy Catherine is back . Don’t like her character . I rather see steve with someone else or dating . Like to see steve flirt a little with other women like danno use too before the little girl he is with now. Need that relationship to end too bring Gabby back for Danno Please
Hi Wendie! I have to admit I was nervous from the very beginning of the season that #5 might be our last and I became downright terrified as more and more of the “experts” kept saying it was a goner. Friends kept telling me to calm down, that there was no reason to worry until there was a reason to worry. But worry I did anyway.
But after the finale was filmed and there were all kinds of hints and clues in various postings from the crew on set and, of course, that “don’t worry” from Peter I started to feel a bit better. Then when not one but two auctions for set visits, one with Peter himself was offered, I figured the cast and crew and especially Peter knew something the rest of us weren’t privy to so I was very confident at that point that we were being renewed. Of course, CBS could have pulled a last minute change of mind which would have been totally devastating, Thank goodness that didn’t happen. I am beyond thrilled Five-0 is coming back for Season 6.
Wendie,
As others have noted, very good news of a new season 6 approved. Actually CBS kept their Friday schedule the same as this year. Five0 always won their time slot; however it was reported that CBS needed some slots for new shows. I am glad that they fond those slots on other nights.
I will definitely look forward to your summer school of special weekly reports of various topics. Thank you for your efforts.
Paul
Cool shirt 🙂
I think it would be good to bring Dr. Mindy Shaw (Amanda Setton) back in as a replacement while Max is gone. I thought she handled the job pretty well the few times she was on…